CRM16 form completion guidance

[Pages:13]Hardship and eligibility review (CRM16) form completion guidance

September 2022

Hardship and eligibility review (CRM16) form completion guidance

Contents

When and how to use the form

2

When to use this form

2

When not to use this form

2

When you complete the form

3

When you have completed this form

3

Data protection

3

Guidance and evidence requirements for each question

4

Question 1 - About you

4

Question 2 - Income

4

Question 3 - Outgoings

5

Question 4 - Additional information

8

Question 5 - Declaration by your partner

9

Question 6 - Declaration by you

9

Question 8 - Details of the instructed solicitor

9

Question 9 - Costs

9

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Hardship and eligibility review (CRM16) form completion guidance

When and how to use the form

This guidance and the form to which it refers are available in Welsh from the GOV.UK website: Download the English CRM16 form from the GOV.UK website:

When to use this form

If you have applied for criminal legal aid and we decided that you have sufficient income for any of the following: ? to pay privately in the magistrates' court (magistrates' court hardship) ? to pay privately in the Crown Court (Crown Court eligibility review) ? to pay towards the costs of your legal aid in the Crown Court (Crown Court hardship) and you are not able to pay without suffering financial hardship, use this form to ask us to review our decision. You may submit the CRM16 at the same time as applying for legal aid if you expect to be told any of the above.

When not to use this form

If your financial circumstances have changed since you applied for legal aid so that you cannot now afford to pay privately or towards the costs of your legal aid, do not use this form. For instance, you and your partner may have separated or your hours of work may have been reduced. If your financial circumstances have changed in a way such as this, ask us to re-assess your application by asking your solicitor to complete another CRM14 eForm. If you have been refused legal aid for a Crown Court trial and your circumstances have changed you will need to submit a New Application Following Ineligibility. Your solicitor will need to submit a fresh CRM14 eForm. If you have been refused legal aid for a Crown Court trial and you have not submitted an application for an Eligibility Review within 21 days of the refusal you will also have to

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Hardship and eligibility review (CRM16) form completion guidance

submit a New Application Following Ineligibility with your CRM16 form. Your solicitor will need to submit a fresh CRM14. If you are not sure whether you should use this form, contact your solicitor.

When you complete the form

If you need help or advice to complete the form or when you use this guidance, please contact your solicitor. There is more information about hardship reviews in the Criminal Legal Aid Manual at: Complete this form following the guidance under `When you fill in the form' on pages 1 and 2 of the guidance for form CRM14. This is available on the GOV.UK website at:

When you have completed this form

Hand the form to your solicitor, together with the evidence that we ask for at questions 2, 3 and 4. If you're submitting a CRM16 at the point of application, or as part of a New Application Following Ineligibility, your solicitor should upload the CRM16 as an evidence attachment to the CRM14 eForm. They should make a note in the further information field that a CRM16 is attached. In all other circumstances your solicitor must post the CRM16 and accompanying evidence to the nearest National Crime Team or email them to Nationalcrimeteam@.uk

Data protection

The information about data protection at section 12 of the CRM14 eForm, and in the guidance for that question covers this form and the way we use your personal information.

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Hardship and eligibility review (CRM16) form completion guidance

Guidance and evidence requirements for each question

Question 1 - About you

You can find the MAAT reference on any correspondence sent to you (whilst applying for legal aid) from the Criminal Applications Team, National Crime Team or Marston Holdings Ltd. Please tell us what the application relates to by ticking the appropriate box: ? Magistrates Hardship Review

If you have been refused legal aid for a magistrates' court case and you believe that you have insufficient income to pay privately without suffering financial hardship, tick the "Magistrates' Court" box. ? Crown Court Hardship Review If you have been asked to pay a contribution from income for your case in the Crown Court and you believe that you have insufficient income to pay the assessed amount without suffering financial hardship, tick the "Crown Court where income contribution assessed" box. ? Crown Court Eligibility Review If you have been refused legal aid for a Crown Court trial and you believe that you have insufficient income to pay privately tick the "Crown Court where legal aid refused" box.

Question 2 - Income

You may answer both questions 2 and 3 (if you are not receiving the income you told us about on the CRM14 eForm, for example because of a temporary suspension, and/or have additional outgoings to those we asked you about on the CRM14 eForm). You must provide evidence that shows the income that you have not received during the past 12 months. For example, this could be a letter from your employer which gives details of wages that have been stopped or reduced.

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Hardship and eligibility review (CRM16) form completion guidance

Question 3 - Outgoings

These will usually be outgoings which you had taken on before you applied for legal aid that were not included in your means assessment.

Costs such as mobile phone contracts, cigarettes, pet costs, insurance, food, clothing or alcoholic drinks are not allowable expenses under the review.

Water, gas and electricity payments In the table of common outgoings below, `utilities' includes water, gas and electricity payments. Utility bills can only be taken into account on a hardship/eligibility review if you are in arrears with your payments and enforcement action is being taken against you. We will then only allow the payments being made to reduce the arrears.

When we first assessed your application for legal aid, a living allowance was factored into your means assessment. This represents the cost of living and covers payments described below. We will not consider a further claim for such costs when considering your additional outgoings.

The living allowance represents cost of living expenses on:

? Food and non-alcoholic drinks ? Clothing and footwear ? Housing1, fuel and power ? Household goods and services ? Health ? Transport ? Communication ? Education (excluding school fees) ? Water rates ? Insurance premiums ? Miscellaneous goods and services

Pension payments When we assessed your application for legal aid, we used an annual living allowance. This includes pension payments of up to 6% of salary. As a result, the only pension payments which you can claim for are those which are more than 6% of your salary. We will then allow only the portion which is above the 6%. For example, if an applicant earns ?1000 per

1 Net of mortgage payments, rent and council tax

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Hardship and eligibility review (CRM16) form completion guidance

month and their pension payments are ?100 per month, their pension payments are 10% of their earnings. We would therefore only allow 4% (?40 per month) under hardship.

Evidence of outgoings For the costs you describe on the CRM16 to be taken into account you must provide evidence of the outgoings.

The evidence required is dependent on the type of outgoing and whether your Trial is being heard:

? in the Crown Court (Indictable only and either way post committals) ? in the magistrates' court (this includes, committals for sentence and appeal cases).

The table below provides details of the evidence required for the most common types of outgoings we will consider. If your outgoing is not on this list, ask your solicitor what evidence you should provide.

Please note that bank statements alone are insufficient evidence of debts such as loans and credit cards. You should provide credit card statements or loan agreements that show the minimum monthly payment, how many payments you have left to make and, in the case of a loan, when the loan began.

Proof of payment If your trial is not being heard in the Crown Court you will be required to demonstrate that you are paying the additional outgoings listed in your application.

Please refer to the table below for the relevant evidence requirement for each type of expenditure.

A copy of a document is sufficient so long as it's readable.

Common outgoing

Evidence required if your Evidence required if your

case is not being heard in the case is heard in the Crown

Crown court

Court

Unsecured Loan

Loan agreement which shows the minimum payment and the date the agreement began, plus proof of payment

Loan agreement which shows the minimum payment and the date the agreement began

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Hardship and eligibility review (CRM16) form completion guidance

Secured loan

Car loan

Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) Credit card and store card payments Other debts Fines Rent/Council Tax arrears Utilities arrears

Bailiff costs Student loan

Loan agreement which shows the minimum payment and the date the agreement began, plus proof of payment

Loan agreement which shows the minimum payment and the date the agreement began

Loan/finance agreement which shows the minimum payment and the date the agreement began, plus proof of payment

Loan/finance agreement which shows the minimum payment and the date the agreement began

IVA agreement, and proof of payment

IVA agreement

Copy of bill or statement and Copy of bill or statement which

evidence of payment

shows the minimum payment

Evidence of debt & repayment Evidence of debt and plan & evidence this is being repayment plan paid

Evidence of fine showing

Evidence of fine which shows

remaining payments and proof the remaining payments

of payment

Letters/statements confirming arrears, repayment plan and evidence of payment

Evidence of debt and repayment plan

Letter showing that arrears have gone to enforcement/collection agency and evidence this is being paid

Evidence of debt and repayment plan

Demand letter and proof of payment

Demand letter which shows the minimum payment allowed, if applicable

Recent pay slip which show amount paid

Recent pay slip which shows amount paid

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